U.S. private sector creates 230,000 jobs in October: ADP

Mid-sized businesses add most workers in more than 7 years

11/05/2014|labour-reporter.com|Last Updated: 11/05/2014

NEW YORK (Reuters) — U.S. private employers added 230,000 jobs in October, the most since June and exceeding economists' expectations as mid-sized businesses added the most workers in more than seven years, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday.

Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast the ADP National Employment Report would show a gain of 220,000 jobs.

September's private payrolls were revised up to 225,000 from the previously reported 213,000.

Including October's gain, the U.S. economy has produced more than 200,000 private-sector jobs for a record seven straight months, dating back to the ADP series origin in May 2001. Private employers have now added jobs for 56 straight months at an average rate of more than 186,000 per month.

The report is jointly developed with Moody's Analytics.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, said: "The job market is steadily picking up pace. Job growth is strong and broad-based across industries and company sizes. At this pace of job growth unemployment and underemployment is quickly declining. The job market will soon be tight enough to support a meaningful acceleration in wage growth."

The ADP figures come ahead of the U.S. Labor Department's more comprehensive nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, which includes both public and private sector employment. Economists polled by Reuters are looking for the total U.S. employment to have grown by 231,000 jobs in October, down from 248,000 in September, with private-sector hiring seen at 222,000 compared with 236,000 the month before.

Breaking the data down by business size and type, growth was led by mid-sized companies with between 50 and 499 employees and by firms in the services sector.

Medium employers added 122,000 jobs, the most in that category since February 2007, more than double the 47,000 in September. Small firms, with fewer than 50 workers, added 102,000 new workers, up from about 93,000 in September.

Meanwhile, large firms, with 500 or more workers, added just 5,000 after having hired about 85,000 in September, which had been the briskest hiring pace among big companies since November 2012.

Service-providing employers added 181,000 jobs last month compared with about 176,000 in September.

Meanwhile, goods-producing companies added 48,000, down from around 50,000 the month before, which stood as the most new jobs in that sector since December 2012.

And manufacturers hired 15,000 new workers, about half of September's total of 33,000, which had been the most since March 2011.